Heloise has many faces. To the outside world, she’s just a young widow with a forgettable job who never misses her son’s soccer games or school plays. In the state capitol, she’s a lobbyist for women’s issues. In private, she makes men’s dreams come true if they can afford it.

The safe world she has built is falling apart. Another madam has been found dead and the police are unsure whether it’s a suicide or not as the evidence just doesn’t really seem to stack up. People are hinting to her that she needs to be careful, her employees are plotting behind her back and to top it all off, there’s a chance that her son’s father might be released from prison. He doesn’t know he has a son or that Heloise is the reason he’s serving a life sentence, but he is beginning to suspect she’s keeping secrets from him.

Heloise is going to have to run, to once again remake her life with no formal education, no real family and no friends. Disappearing is easy for her if she can live long enough to accomplish it.

If I were to describe And When She Was Good in one sentence, it would be: A complex character driven story. It’s Heloises’ memories, actions, emotions and reactions that fuel this book. Laura Lippman has created a character that is so complex that she could be your neighbor, your babysitter or that woman staring at you funny at the grocery store. It’s not just the main character that feels that way either. The characters have so much depth to them that it feels like she could write at least a novella on each one. These are not just characters in a book. They’re edgy, compelling and real and that makes the story the same. I found myself caught in the web of this novel just like Heloise was caught in her own web. I will definitely be reading more from Laura Lippman!

Thank you to Partner’s in Crime Tours and William Morrow ( Harper Collins ) for the ARC copy. It in no way influenced my review.